November 28, 2017
Mr. Daniel Winnick
Associate International Tax Counsel
Department of the Treasury
1400 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224
Mr. John Sweeney
Office of Associate (Chief Counsel), International
Branch Chief, Branch 8
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224
Ms. Kimberley Schoenbacher
LB&I – Foreign Payments Practice
Program Manager
290 Broadway, 12th Fl.
New York, NY 10007
Re: Forms W-8 and W-9
Dear Ladies & Gentlemen:
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”)1, in an effort to achieve compliance with the documentation requirements of chapter 3, 4 and 61 of Code 2 and the regulations thereunder, seeks clarification on the requirements for completing and validating Forms W-8. 3
In addition to the specific issues presented below, the members of SIFMA would like to note the importance of publishing an updated version of the requestor instructions as quickly as possible. It is critical that withholding agents have the requestor instructions in order to understand the nuances of form validation. Withholding agents have been lacking an updated version of this important document for several years causing uncertainty (and likely errors) in requests for the completion and validation of the information on the forms.
1 SIFMA is the voice of the U.S. securities industry. We represent the broker-dealers, banks and asset managers whose nearly 1 million employees provide access to the capital markets, raising over $2.5 trillion for businesses and municipalities in the U.S., serving clients with over $18.5 trillion in assets and managing more than $67 trillion in assets for individual and institutional clients including mutual funds and retirement plans. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.
2 All “Section” references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), or to the Treasury Regulations (“Treas. Reg.” or “Regulations”) thereunder. All references to the “Service” or “IRS” are to the Internal Revenue Service and to the “Treasury” are to the U.S. Treasury Department
3 Forms include: W-8BEN – Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Individuals), W-8BEN-E – Certificate of Entities Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting (Entities), W-8IMY – Certificate of Foreign Intermediary, Foreign Flow-Through Entity, or Certain U.S. Branches for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting, W-8ECI – Certificate of Foreign Person’s Claim That Income Is Effectively Connected With the Conduct of a Trade or Business in the United States, W-8EXP – Certificate of Foreign Government or Other Foreign Organization for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting, W-8IMY – Certificate of Foreign Intermediary, Foreign Flow-Through Entity, or Certain U.S. Branches for United States Tax Withholding and Reporting